The atmosphere in the class 1-A room felt heavy. At the front of the class, Eraser Head stood with bandages still wrapped around much of his body from his last encounter with Junsei. His eyes were stern as they moved across his students one by one.
"You were told to evacuate," he said. "Instead, the moment you heard Junsei was coming here, you disobeyed instructions and ran toward the situation. What were you thinking?"
No one answered immediately.
Eraser Head's voice hardened. "If we tell you to evacuate, that means you leave. It is not a suggestion. Do you understand the danger you would have been in if he had come here to attack UA?"
Bakugo clicked his tongue and said. "If he wants to attack us, then let him come. I'll murder him."
At once, Iida rose from his seat, "With all due respect, Sensei, we cannot simply hide and allow our school to be attacked."
Aizawa looked at both of them, then at the rest of the class.
"I won't sugarcoat this for you," he said. "Even with all of UA's defenses active and all the heroes present on campus, none of us were confident we could fight him off. His transformed state is still an unknown factor. Our priority was your safety, no matter the cost. If a battle had broken out while you were nearby, then everything we were doing would have been pointless."
That answer silenced the room.
The students understood what their teacher was really saying.
The UA staff had not been preparing to win.
After a moment, Todoroki spoke. "But that means you needed all the help you could get. He's a threat to everyone."
Eraser Head shook his head. "We needed to stall, not to win. Right now, pro heroes have arrived outside the school and are speaking with the principal about Junsei's appearance here."
The class went silent again, then Mineta finally raised his hand halfway.
"What about Aoyama?" he asked nervously. "Why did you take him aside? And why hasn't he come back yet?"
Aizawa fell silent for a second.
Then he answered.
"Junsei claimed that Aoyama is a spy," he said, "and that he worked for AFO. Possibly still working for AFO's remaining subordinates."
The reaction was immediate.
Shock swept through the classroom.
Jiro frowned deeply. "But that's just Junsei talking. You don't actually believe him, do you?"
Eraser Head replied. "He has no reason to lie. And according to Midoriya, he did take AFO's memories"
He paused.
"I don't want to believe that one of my students could be a traitor and a spy. But that doesn't change the fact that Junsei is likely telling the truth."
The room grew quiet again.
Aizawa rubbed the side of his face, then added, "The principal and the rest of the staff will investigate further before any judgement is made. According to Junsei, Aoyama was born quirkless."
That only deepened the unease.
Mina was the next to speak, her voice smaller than usual. "Then... why did he come here? He didn't just randomly decide to show up and share that information, did he?"
Eraser Head nodded once. "He brought Eri. The girl the Yakuza were holding and using to create the quirk-erasing drug."
Midoriya's eyes widened instantly. "He brought Eri?"
"It appears," Aizawa said, "that he continued hunting Overhaul, eventually found him, and somehow ended up saving Eri. He was not going to keep Eri by his side and the only place he knew to bring her to was UA"
Kaminari stared in disbelief. "Why would he do that? Doesn't he kill every person he can? A helpless child should have been the easiest target possible for him."
Mineta swallowed and said. "Maybe... maybe he doesn't get satisfaction from killing children. Or weak people. He went after criminals and heroes, right?"
Tsuyu shook her head slowly. "I don't think anyone can guess what he is thinking, ribbit."
Bakugo turned his head toward Momo. "Hey, ponytail. Do you know if he got some rule about not hurting children?"
Every eye in the room shifted toward her.
"I don't know." She answered, "Junsei isn't bloodthirsty or evil in the way a normal person is."
Kaminari stared at her. "Are you serious? You're defending him again?"
"I'm not defending him," Momo said immediately. "And I'm not saying he's misunderstood."
Her hand clenched on top of her desk.
"He is a monster. He is a killer. No matter how I look at it, that doesn't change."
She took a breath, then continued more quietly.
"But he is different from normal villains."
No one interrupted her now.
Momo looked down for a moment, organizing her thoughts.
"Villains usually act for self-satisfaction, greed, pleasure, revenge, or some personal obsession," she said. "Even when they reject society, they still understand what society is. They know what humans call right and wrong. They know the laws. Some may think those laws are unfair, but they still acknowledge part of them. Their crimes are committed in opposition to a human system they recognize."
Her eyes lifted again.
"Junsei doesn't feel like that."
The room remained completely still.
"I might be wrong about some of this," Momo said, "but based on everything he's said and done, he doesn't acknowledge human laws or even human morality as things that matter. He sees all of humanity, including morals and thoughts, as a sin, an evil existence. He is not breaking laws or challenging a system, he is holding an enmity against the entire humankind"
Her voice grew quieter.
"He doesn't look at the world from a human perspective. I'm not even sure he looks at it from a personal perspective. He acts based only on what he senses from nature around him... or as he calls it, life."
Momo continued, "That's why no one can predict him. We can't understand him the way we understand other villains, because he doesn't think like a human. His allegiance isn't to himself or any other person."
She lowered her gaze.
"It's to nature."
A pause.
"And that is what guides his actions. And he sees the end of the human race as a good thing."
The class remained silent.
Eraser Head added "He thinks humanity's end as a good thing, but at the same time he saved a little girl. This means he doesn't kill everyone, he has a criteria for selecting his targets. Villains and Heroes apparently fall into it, and make no mistake, it has nothing to do with how good or evil the person is."
Kaminari said "The more we talk about him, the scarier it gets. At this point, he really is becoming our era's demon."
The others nodded.
Eraser Head remained silent, he had heard of Nighteye's vision and Kaminari's words was another reminder of that ominous end.
——————
Nezu was back in his office and across from him stood Midnight. Nezu folded his paws together and looked up at her.
"So she is completely fine," he said slowly, "except for her missing quirk?"
Midnight nodded.
"According to Eri, the scary person with the blue eyes didn't hurt her," she said. "He appeared when she was trying to escape the scary place she was trapped in. Then the next moment she found herself here."
Nezu's expression did not change, but his eyes sharpened slightly.
"And she does not know where she was being held? Or what happened to the Yakuza?"
Midnight shook her head again. "She knows nothing. Those bastards kept her trapped and used her in their experiments. The poor girl doesn't even know what they were trying to do. All she knows is that her blood was used to hurt people."
Nezu leaned back slightly in his chair.
"And what was her quirk?"
Midnight let out a frustrated breath.
"She doesn't know that either," she said. "They never told her. They never explained anything. They just used her."
Nezu closed his eyes briefly and sighed.
"So an unknown quirk," he murmured, "yet unique enough that Junsei chose to take it from her."
His gaze moved toward the window.
"As if he was not dangerous enough already."
Midnight continued. "I feel sorry for the girl. She actually believes that monster saved her. She even seemed happy and grateful that he took her quirk."
She shook her head slowly.
"She's too traumatized to understand what really happened."
Nezu remained silent for a moment.
"The fate of the Yakuza remains unknown," he finally said. "But judging by Junsei's bloody record, it is not difficult to guess what happened to them."
Midnight's eyes darkened slightly.
Then she asked the question that had been weighing on her mind.
"Sir… what do we do if he comes to the school again?"
Nezu sighed.
"I do not know."
The answer came quickly.
"I am not confident in anything we add to our defense systems. He possesses too many abilities and powers. Every time he fights, he reveals something new."
Nezu turned the tablet on his desk toward himself.
"I have already contacted Yaoyorozu to arrange the purchase and installation of the new anti-quirk dome technology. I cannot guarantee it will work, but it is better than nothing."
He paused.
"Personally, I doubt he would attack UA"
Midnight raised an eyebrow slightly.
Nezu continued calmly.
"This is my school. And Momo studies here."
His eyes softened just slightly.
"He is not completely heartless, even if he denies his own emotions."
Nezu stood from his chair and walked toward the large window behind his desk. The campus stretched out below.
"What concerns me," he said quietly, "is not this school."
His gaze moved beyond the campus.
"It is our students… and society at large."
Junsei would not show mercy outside these walls.
"And I fear he is preparing something. Sir Nighteye has already begun rallying heroes. They are preparing for the day we may have to fight him."
Midnight frowned slightly.
"He's still only one person," she said. "No matter how strong he is, he can't fight every hero in the country alone. AFO hid himself for decades and even created nomus to help him"
Nezu did not immediately respond. When he did, his voice carried quiet concern.
"The nature of Junsei's quirk or whatever power he possesses remains a mystery. Even now. And after recent events… especially the raid…"
A pause.
"I have begun to fear this connection he has with nature."
Midnight said nothing.
——————
Elsewhere, time continued to pass.
Junsei had stopped hunting people.
Instead, he focused entirely on overseeing Overhaul's operation.
The Yakuza leader was making progress.
Thanks to Junsei's ability to regenerate endlessly, Overhaul now had access to a limitless supply of blood and flesh infused with the power of Rewind. He no longer needed to slow down or wait for recovery periods.
The work never stopped and the laboratory lights never went out.
The potency of the Rewind energy within Junsei's body far exceeded what Overhaul had previously extracted from Eri. In just one week, Overhaul advanced further than he had managed in months when relying on Eri's blood.
But the Yakuza subordinates were growing increasingly disturbed by Junsei's presence.
They watched him every day help Overhaul. He would calmly tear off pieces of his own body, an entire limb at a time..
He would place them on the table without even the slightest change in his expression.
The wounds would regenerate moments later.
As if nothing had happened.
Even freakier, Junsei did not sleep, did not eat or rest. He simply stood there, helping Overhaul to get as much material as he wanted.
There was no hesitation or pain.
To the Yakuza watching, one thought began to spread among them. Junsei was not a person with a quirk.
He was a demon.